


Learn Something New

by EmberCartwright



Series: Tyzula Things [63]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Declarations Of Love, F/F, Public Display of Affection, Romance, tyzula - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-28
Updated: 2020-12-29
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:42:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28264101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmberCartwright/pseuds/EmberCartwright
Summary: Azula is fed up with Suki always trying to convince Ty Lee to leave her. Suki is fed up with Azula's attitude. Ty Lee decides she needs to intervene.
Relationships: Azula/Ty Lee (Avatar)
Series: Tyzula Things [63]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2019697
Comments: 8
Kudos: 165





	1. Conflict

Ty Lee’s phone rang and she pulled it out of her pocket. 

“Who is it,” Suki asked. 

Ty Lee didn’t respond, she just picked up and pressed the phone against her ear. 

“Hey ‘Zula,” Ty Lee said cheerily. 

Suki visibly cringed. Ty Lee shot her a look. 

“What’s up,” she asked. 

“I was just wondering where you were,” Azula asked. She didn’t sound demanding or angry, just curious. 

“I went for a walk with some of the girls from the team. It’s such a nice day out!” She replied. 

“Oh okay,” Azula said and paused. “When do you think you’ll be coming home,” she asked, a little quieter. 

“Do you miss me or something,” Ty Lee teased. She could practically hear Azula blushing. 

“No, I just want to run some errands and I want to know how much time I have,” Azula said. 

“I don’t have to come at all if that’s what you want,” Ty Lee said, giggling. 

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Azula said.

“I’ll see you soon ‘Zula,” Ty Lee said with a smile. 

“Yes,” Azula said, hanging up. 

Ty Lee shook her head and put her phone back into her pocket. 

“What did she want,” Suki asked, her tone coming out more aggressive than she intended. 

“She was just wondering where I was,” Ty Lee replied. “She’s so cute when she gets a little clingy.”

“Your girlfriend is not cute,” Suki said. 

“I beg to differ,” Ty Lee said. 

“My best friend was on the Agni Kai team and Azula yelled at her so much that she cried every night and eventually she just quit,” one of the girls said. 

Ty Lee cringed. 

“Azula can be a little harsh sometimes but it’s very easy to misunderstand her,” she said. 

“She got our math teacher fired because she didn’t adhere to the curriculum and Azula felt the class was going too slow,” another girl said. 

“Well she just demands excellence from herself and gets frustrated when others don’t hold themselves to that standard,” Ty Lee supplied. 

“Why are you always defending her,” Suki asked. “Just be honest with yourself, she’s mean and she’s controlling. She just called you because she wanted you to come back.”

“She’s not controlling,” Ty Lee snapped. “She called me because she missed me.”

“Sure,” Suki said, rolling her eyes. 

“You don’t know her like I do,” Ty Lee said, “and you don’t see that side of her.”

“Even adults move out of the way when she walks through a hallway because she makes everyone feel like she owns everything and they’re just lucky to be in her domain,” one girl said. 

“Well maybe you’re just jealous of her confidence,” Ty Lee said angrily. 

“She-” Suki started to list another thing about Azula but Ty Lee cut her off. 

“She comes to pick me up if I need her, from anywhere at any time,” Ty Lee said. “She knows all the words to my favorite songs even though it’s not her genre of music at all and she’ll sing along. When I’m tired she carries me. She defends me no matter what.”

“She calls people peasant to their faces,” Suki said. 

“Not anymore,” Ty Lee said. “She’s way nicer than she used to be.”

“Oh wow, she can use people’s names, such great improvement,” Suki said rolling her eyes. 

“Why do you have to be so mean,” Ty Lee said, tearing up. “She loves me and she makes me happy, what else do you need.”

“She’s going to hurt you,” Suki said. 

“How can you be so sure?” Ty Lee said. 

“She hurts everyone else.”

“Not me,” Ty Lee said, tears rolling down her cheeks. “She doesn’t hurt me.”

Suki bit her lip and put her arm around Ty Lee. 

“I’m sorry,” she said softly. “I know it can be hard to see what’s right in front of you, especially when you’re blindly in love.”

Ty Lee shook her off. 

“What the hell kind of apology was that,” she yelled. 

A few people in the park turned to look at her. 

“I just don’t understand it,” Suki said. “She has no redeemable qualities.”

“How can you say that if you’ve never made a real effort to get to know her?” Ty Lee shouted. 

“I don’t need to get to know her to know there’s nothing about her that screams that she would be good at relationships,” Suki said. “Plus she’s never made an effort to get to know me.”

“Because you look at her like she’s something dirty,” Ty Lee said, through. “How do you think that makes her feel? How do you think that makes me feel? You’re supposed to be my best friend and you can’t even give the person I love the genuine benefit of the doubt.”

“I just know, based on everything that I’ve heard, that there’s nothing good about her.” 

“Which is why you’re not the one dating me,” a voice came from behind the girls. 

All of them spun around to see Azula standing there with her arms crossed.

“‘Zula,” Ty Lee said tearfully. 

Azula walked over to her slowly and wrapped her arms around her. Ty Lee reciprocated the hug and squeezed her tightly. 

“She stalked you,” Suki said when Ty Lee let go and turned around. “You’re a psycho and you brainwashed her,” she said, pointing accusingly at Azula. 

“I did neither,” Azula said. “I was at the drug store then I went to the post office,” she said, indicating at the building across the street from the park. “Then I heard yelling and I realized it was a voice I knew,” she said, wrapping her arm around Ty Lee’s waist. 

“Likely story about the post office,” Suki said 

Azula reached into her back pocket and pulled out a book of stamps. 

“Maybe you just brought them,” Suki said. “For a cover story.” 

Azula rolled her eyes and pulled a package of peanut butter cups from her jacket pocket. 

“These are for you,” Azula said, turning to Ty Lee. “I was going to give them to you later but it seems like you might need them now.” 

Ty Lee sniffled and opened her candy. 

“Thanks ‘Zula,” she said, biting into one.

“Anytime Ty,” Azula said, kissing her temple. 

“You’re turning her on her friends,” Suki attacked again. 

“I don’t need to do that, you’re doing that all by yourself,” Azula said. “Can’t you be happy for her?”

“I don’t trust you,” Suki said, narrowing her eyes. 

“Shall we look at this objectively,” Azula said, taking a moment to enjoy the look on her girlfriend’s face as she bit into her favorite candy. “Let us consider this from a third party perspective and just compare relevant actions.” 

“As a friend you go out of your way to make you “best friend” upset about something you know you won’t change her mind on,” Azula said, with finger quotes around best friend. 

“Maybe one day she’ll wake up and see she’s being abused,” Suki said. 

“There is absolutely no indication that’s happening at all, how can you be so sure.”

“That’s who you are,” Suki said, exasperated. 

“You just accused me of something extremely serious based on previous, _unrelated_ , actions that you’ve just heard about. I am mean and I do think I’m better than everyone else,” Azula said, “but I would never, ever do anything to hurt Ty. Only you do that.” 

Suki pursed her lips but didn’t say anything. 

“Actually let’s consider this both ways,” Azula said. “You’re dating Sokka right?”

“My relationship is none of your business,” Suki snapped. 

“Now that’s really rich,” Azula said laughing. “I just want to make a few observations, you can tell me if I’m out of line.” 

Suki narrowed her eyes. 

“Would you say you’re being abused?”

“Hell no,” Suki yelled. “Sokka is an amazing boyfriend!”

“How so?”

“He respects me and my boundaries,” she said. 

Azula turned to Ty Lee.

“Have I ever overstepped any boundaries you’ve set?”

Ty Lee shook her head. 

“Would you feel comfortable telling me if I did?”

Ty Lee nodded. 

“Has she ever mentioned anything about me not respecting her?” Azula asked. 

Suki thought for a moment. 

“Maybe she’s scared of you,” she said slowly. 

“I’d actually go so far as to say that Ty is one of the only people not scared of me,” Azula said. “Ever since we were little Ty spoke her mind with me, even when I was less than kind about receiving her advice.” 

Suki said nothing. 

“Let’s continue,” Azula said after a bit. “What else does Sokka do?”

“He loves me,” Suki said. 

“I love Ty,” Azula said, the words rolling off of her tongue easily. 

“You can just be saying that,” Suki said. 

“Uno reverse,” Azula said dryly. Ty Lee giggled and Azula rubbed her side, glad she was perking up. 

“We communicate really well,” Suki said. 

“I am willing to admit I’ve had some shortcomings on that front but I’m working on it,” Azula said. “But why trust me? What do you think Ty?”

“Honestly, in terms of communication you are a great listener. The biggest issue would be you not telling me what you need,” Ty Lee said.

“I feel like that’s pretty good evidence, let’s go onwards,” Azula said. “How else would you characterize your relationship?” 

“Being able to spend time apart,” Suki said. “Neither of us are overly dependent on one another.” 

“I agree that is very important,” Azula said. “However, I would counter that by saying that the time apart needed should be decided on a case to case basis. Just because something works for you doesn’t mean it will work for everyone.” 

“You are together all day every day,” Suki said. 

“By choice,” Azula pointed out. “Ty went on a walk with you today. It’s not something she needed to ask me permission for.”

“You called her and then followed her,” Suki said. 

“Me being here is a coincidence,” Azula said. “If I hadn’t heard you yelling I wouldn’t have intruded,” she added to Ty Lee. “Plus I didn’t even know where you were walking.”

“I believe you,” she said. 

“You even hold her possessively,” Suki said, pointing. 

“Do you feel possessed?” 

Ty Lee snaked her arm around Azula’s back. 

“Only if you feel possessed by me.”

“Now let’s discuss romantic gestures,” Azula said. “They aren’t a necessary part of a relationship per se but I feel like it's an interesting thing to highlight before you condemn me as the world’s worst abusive girlfriend.”

“Sokka cooks for me,” Suki said. “We have cute, romantic dinners.”

Azula shrugged. 

“That’s not a skill I ever bothered picking up,” she said. “But I can still purchase food to the same effect.” 

“You don’t strike me as a romantic person,” Suki said. 

“That much could have been inferred from your treatment of me so far,” Azula said. 

“‘Zula is very romantic,” Ty Lee said. “That’s what I tried to say before with the music and the carrying.”

“I come to every competition,” Azula said. Ty Lee nodded. “Not because I feel like I have to but because I’m genuinely interested in seeing you.”

“She knows my favorite candy,” Ty Lee said, holding up the wrapper as evidence.

“That’s the bare minimum,” Suki said. 

“She makes me happy when I’m sad, she makes me laugh, she’s good at _other_ things,” Ty Lee said. 

Azula blushed. 

“That didn’t need to be brought up,” she muttered. 

Ty Lee chuckled and hugged her tightly. 

Azula turned to Ty Lee and used her thumb to wipe a smudge of chocolate from the corner of her mouth. 

Suki watched both of their expressions closely. It was hard to deny that there was something in Azula’s eyes when she looked at Ty Lee that was different from how she usually looked. 

“It might be time to give Ty the apology she deserves, because I seem to have matched your boyfriend item for item.”

“I’m sorry Ty Lee,” Suki said, begrudgingly. “It seems Azula is not actively out to hurt you.”

“You don’t sound convinced,” Azula said. 

“My mind has changed very little,” she shot back. “But it has changed some,” Suki said, much quieter.

“That’s okay Suki!” Ty Lee said, her cheery disposition returning. “As long as you’re open minded that’s all I can really ask for, isn’t it? Maybe one day you’ll see that ‘Zula is the best girlfriend, but for now it's nice that you don’t consider her to be the worst anymore.” 

“Well this was certainly eventful,” Azula said. She kissed Ty Lee’s temple again and let her go. “I’ll see you later?”

“Are you leaving?” Ty Lee asked. 

“Aren’t you walking?” Azula asked. 

“I think we’re about done,” Ty Lee said.

Azula shrugged and extended her hand. 

“Shall we go home then?”

Ty Lee took it. 

“Bye guys! Talk to you later!” She said happily before walking away from them, towards where Azula had parked her car. 

“I’m sorry you have to defend me,” Azula said. “It shouldn’t be your job.” 

“I love you so much ‘Zula,” Ty Lee said.

Azula was taken aback.

“I love you too,” she said. 

“I love how you spent that time trying to justify yourself to my friends even though you didn’t have to.”

“I hate to be the reason that you argue with them and then get upset,” Azula admitted. “It would be easier for you if they just changed their minds about me.”

Ty Lee snorted. 

“I’m not saying I want to be friends with Suki,” Azula said, unlocking her car. “I just don’t want to become the reason you stop being friends with her.”

“You would work on your relationship with her for me?” Ty Lee said, getting in the passenger seat. 

Azula got in the driver's seat and turned on the car. 

She leaned over and cupped Ty Lee’s cheek, bringing her face forward so she could kiss her. 

“I just want you to be happy. Why is that such a hard concept for people to grasp,” she whispered. 

“Not for me,” Ty Lee said, kissing her again.


	2. Resolution

“Okay guys, welcome to this very exciting event,” Ty Lee said, clapping her hands together. “I can’t wait for you two to be friends!”

Azula and Suki sat across from each other at a small table on Azula’s patio. Ty Lee sat between them, perpendicular to both.

“I thought this was going to be at your house,” Suki said. “As in a neutral location.”

“I basically live here,” Ty Lee said. “It’s more convenient for me than going home and my parents are really weird about ‘Zula.”

“Because they don’t want their daughter to date her?”

“Because they love her more than me,” Ty Lee said bitterly. 

“No they don’t,” Azula said, placing her hand over Ty Lee’s. “Well maybe a little,” she said, after some thought. 

Suki rolled her eyes.

“You can be very charming when you want to be, I’m sure.”

Azula leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. 

“I don’t think Suki is going to make an effort,” she said. 

“Come on Suki,” Ty Lee said. “We are approaching this with clean slates and open minds.”

Suki sighed. 

“I’m doing it,” Azula said. “I don’t see why it's so hard for you.”

“I feel like you’re the prosecution, Ty Lee is the biased jury, and I’m the wrongfully accused defendant,” Suki said. 

“Why do you feel that way,” Azula asked. 

“This is crazy! Anybody will tell you she’s insane,” Suki said, pointing at Azula. 

“People say you’re nice,” Azula said. “True nature reveals itself in such settings it seems.”

“Ladies, ladies let’s calm down,” Ty Lee said, putting an arm on each of their shoulders. “I love you both so much and I would really like it if you didn’t hate each other. So, we're going to play a game.”

“How will games make me think she’s not a psycho,” Suki said. 

“You need to stop calling her names,” Ty Lee said seriously. “Even if you don’t like someone it’s very mean to say that to their face. How would you like it if she started calling you names?”

Suki looked down. 

“Sorry,” she said. “It’s just hard for me to formulate a new opinion about you when I’ve already heard so many bad things.” 

“I think our purpose here is a little bit misconstrued,” Azula said. “I’m not trying to develop a friendship with you. I just need to convince you I’m a good girlfriend to Ty Lee so you’ll leave her alone about it.”

Suki looked up at her. 

“That might be more do-able,” she said quietly. 

“Yay!” Ty Lee cheered. “Now that we’re both in agreeable moods we will start our game. I’ve prepared some questions and I have a sheet of paper for both of you.” 

She slid each of them a sheet of printer paper and a pen. 

“I will read out scenarios and you will answer what you would do as a significant other,” Ty Lee said. 

“I don’t want Suki to pretend she’s dating you,” Azula said. “What if she gets ideas?”

Ty Lee sighed. 

“For the sake of the exercise, Suki can answer as if Sokka was the significant other in the scenario.”

Azula nodded. 

“Insecure much,” Suki said, tilting her head.

“I’m very secure,” Azula said, taking Ty Lee’s hand. 

Ty Lee ran her thumb over Azula’s hand. 

“Are we ready? I’m going to start,” she said. 

Azula picked up her pen and Suki did the same. 

“Question one: your partner decides to take up tap dancing even though they’re horrible at it. Do you tell them or do you just let it happen?”

“Can I ask a clarifying question,” Azula said. 

“Sure,” Ty Lee replied. 

“Do they love tap dancing or is it just something they’re trying out?”

“They’re just trying it out,” Ty Lee said. 

Azula wrote something down and so did Suki. 

“Next question: your partner calls you in the middle of studying in tears. The reason is unknown. What do you do?”

Both girls wrote down their answers. 

“Third question: How true is the following statement,” Ty Lee asked. “Sleeping with your partner sometimes feels like a chore, especially if you’re tired and had a long day, or they seem to enjoy it more than you do some of the time.

Azula smirked and wrote something down while Suki took a few moments before carefully penning her answer. 

“Penultimate question,” Ty Lee said. 

“Big word,” Azula said, squeezing her hand. 

Ty Lee giggled. 

“Someone hits on your partner in public, how would you react,” she read. 

“How am I supposed to know if she’s even writing accurate answers,” Suki asked. 

“I’ll validate,” Ty Lee said. “Or do you not trust me either.”

Suki sighed and wrote something down. 

“You should stick to the truth because I’m not above calling Sokka,” Azula said, writing something as well. 

“Last question,” Ty Lee said. “Your partner says something that hurts your feelings, what do you do?”

Each girl wrote something and then put down her pen. 

“Great,” Ty Lee said. “Now switch,” she directed. 

Azula slid her paper over to Suki and took the one that was passed to her in return. 

“Okay, Suki you will go first. What did ‘Zula say she would do if I decided to try tap dancing but I sucked at it?”

Suki scanned Azula’s answer and narrowed her eyes. 

“I would go to every single performance and cheer her on. I would buy her a fucking tap studio if she wanted. Tap your heart out Ty,” Suki read mechanically. 

Ty Lee grinned at Azula. 

“There’s more,” Suki said. “In small little letters at the bottom it says “we play pai sho, don’t we?” What does that mean?”

Azula smirked and Ty Lee giggled. 

“I am the worst Pai Sho player to ever grace the earth but I think the tiles are really pretty so I make ‘Zula play with me. I’ve never beaten her but it’s still fun!” Ty Lee said. 

“Hhm,” Suki said, putting the paper down. 

“What did Suki say?” Ty Lee asked. 

“I would do it with him,” Azula read, looking up afterwards. “That’s not a bad answer.” 

Ty Lee nodded.

“Thanks,” Suki said dryly. 

“Okay now ‘Zula reads first,” Ty Lee said. “What would Suki do if Sokka called her in tears while she was studying?”

“She would try to talk him down over the phone and if that didn’t work she’d call Katara or someone else that’s free to check on him,” Azula read. 

“What did ‘Zula say,” Ty Lee asked, turning to Suki. 

Suki rolled her eyes. 

“I don’t believe this for a second,” she said. “But she wrote that she would drop everything and go to you.”

“Well I would do that,” Azula said. “Because Ty would and has done it for me.”

Ty Lee nodded. 

“She’s worth a bad grade or two,” Azula added. 

“You care more about being a perfect student than anything else,” Suki said.

“I care more about Ty Lee than anything else,” Azula said firmly. 

Suki chewed the inside of her lip. Something about Azula’s words and demeanor were starting to turn gears in her head. Maybe she wasn’t completely being untruthful. 

“Now for the third question,” Ty Lee said. “Suki, what did Azula say about sleeping with me?”

“This is a most inappropriate question but every single time we’ve ever done anything, not just sex, has felt amazing, hopefully for both of us. It’s never felt like a chore and I hope we do it a lot more… Okay this is gross,” Suki said, cringing. 

“I didn’t know you’d be reading it. I thought Ty would just read it herself,” Azula said shrugging. 

Ty Lee blushed and turned to Azula. 

“I have an amazing time with you too,” Ty Lee said. 

“It couldn’t have been amazing every time,” Suki said, skeptically. “What about the first time?”

Ty Lee and Azula turned to her. 

“We slept together for the first time just as Azula was becoming more communicative so it was really sweet and fun,” Ty Lee said. 

Azula rolled her eyes, clearly embarrassed. 

“It wasn’t the mind blowing whatever that happens now,” she muttered, “but it was good.” 

Ty Lee giggled and brushed a lock of her hair out of her face and rested her hand on Azula’s face for a moment, feeling the heat radiating underneath her palm. 

“Whatever,” Suki said, becoming absorbed in her hands. 

“What did Suki say,” Ty Lee asked. 

“She just put “this statement is somewhat true.” Sorry about that,” Azula said glancing at Suki. 

“I don’t want to get into this,” she said quietly. 

“I’ll bet your vanilla, missionary style straight people sex is unsatisfactory,” Azula commented, examining her nails. 

“‘Zula that wasn’t very nice,” Ty Lee said. 

Azula sighed and made eye contact. 

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m sure you have several positions.”

“Let’s just move on,” Suki said. 

Ty Lee shrugged. 

“What did ‘Zula say for the second to last question?” 

“Either put my arm around her or make a snarky comment. I know this isn’t the ideal answer but if we’re being as honest as possible I do get a bit jealous. It also depends on the situation,” Suki read. 

“One time you almost punched a girl that was hitting on me,” Azula said to Ty Lee. 

“Yeah,” Ty Lee said, playing with her braid. “She totally deserved it though because you said you had a girlfriend and she said she didn’t care. You gave a good answer.”

“Read what I wrote,” Suki said, leaning forward. 

“I would not do anything because I trust him,” Azula read. “Well good for you,” she drawled. “I don’t think my small shortcoming would really define me as an abuser though.”

“I guess not,” Suki acquiesced. 

Azula observed her in surprise. Her mind might actually be changing. 

“And now for the final question,” Ty Lee said, drumming on the table with one finger. “Read Suki’s first.”

“If my partner says something that hurts my feelings I will tell him what he did and explain to him why I was upset by it,” Azula read.

“Okay now read ‘Zula’s,” Ty Lee said, turning. 

“If my partner says something that hurts my feelings I’d say to her what she did and why I was upset by it,” Suki read. “We almost wrote the same thing,” she remarked. 

Azula gave her a small, genuine smile which took her aback. 

“The game concluded, we come to final remarks,” Ty Lee said. 

“Very cute, very formal,” Azula said, lifting Ty Lee’s hand and kissing it. 

She giggled. 

“Thank you ‘Zula.”

“I guess you could be called a good girlfriend,” Suki said, surprising all three girls by speaking first.

She bowed to Azula in the traditional Fire Nation style, with her palm on top of her fist. Azula bowed back.

“What I’m taking away from this is that you aren't terrible company. I didn't actively want to burn you the entire time, which is more than I can say for most people,” Azula said. 

Azula bowed to Suki in the traditional Earth Kingdom style, with her fist in her palm. Suki reciprocated. 

Ty Lee was ecstatic. 

“I’m so happy you guys,” she said, jumping up. 

Azula and Suki rose as well. 

Azula leaned into Ty Lee’s ear and whispered something which made her go bright red. 

“I’m really glad this happened Suki and I’ll talk to you later,” she squeaked as Azula smirked and took her hand. 

“Have fun fucking,” Suki said, raising her hand and walking out from the backyard towards her car. 

Azula was a good girlfriend, who would have thought?


End file.
